voiddwelling

Voiddwelling is a term used in speculative fiction and critical discourse to describe beings, communities, or habitats that are primarily located in or adapted to void spaces. The void here may refer to interstellar or interplanetary vacuum, large artificial or natural caverns and voids beneath planetary surfaces, or metaphorical spaces such as digital or social voids. The term is not tied to a single canon; it is used across multiple works to denote survival, culture, or ecology tailored to environments with extreme isolation, scarce resources, and high radiation exposure.

In practice, depictions vary: some void-dwellers are human or humanoid adapted to vacuum through advanced life-support, built-in respiration, or energy shields; others are non-human species that inhabit orbital habitats, hollowed asteroidal interiors, or ships suspended in the void. Their societies may emphasize mobility, scavenging, or barter-based economies; governance often informal or fractious due to distance and communication delays. Technology often focuses on shielding, water recycling, and air management.

In literary and media contexts, void-dwelling scenes are used to explore themes of isolation, autonomy, and the ethics of survival in extreme environments. The term can function as a descriptive label for peripheral groups within spacefaring civilizations, or as a metaphor for existential emptiness.

See also: space habitat; vacuum; life-support systems; interstellar travel.